Reducing child mortality is one of the global priorities expressed in the
Millennium Development Goals (Goals 4 and 6). A pre-condition to achieve these goals is the
availability of essential medicines for children. Mortality rates for infants and children
under the age of five are estimated at 50 and 80 per 1000 births, respectively. Most of these
deaths are caused by diseases that could be prevented, treated or managed by access to safe,
essential childspecific medicines. Child-specific medicines are those manufactured to suit the age,
physical condition and body weight of a child.

A field study to measure the price, availability and affordability of
selected child-specific medicines was undertaken in Ghana from August to October 2010, using a
standardized methodology developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI).

This survey had the following objectives:

measure the availability of child-specific medicines in Ghana;

evaluate and compare prices of child-specific medicines in the public,
private and mission sectors to government procurement prices;